Imaginary Imagine Breaker
by Greenx92
Summary: REMAKE-Kamijou Touma finds himself 5 years in the future and Academy City is more advance than ever. To show for it, Level 0s have decreased, and Level 5s have increased. As with all things that ascend, however, there are those who fall. Join Kamijou as he faces this new reality and takes down assassins, espers, and higher-ups while also solving the mystery of his apparent murder.
1. Things to come

Academy city is often call the city of the future. It is often said that they have technology five to ten years ahead of the world. The most prominent example being the espers that exist in here. To the world, they are supernatural miracles that must be seen to believe. To themselves, they are people who either have power or lack it. With that example alone, to call Academy the city of the future would not be making a hyperbole. To one boy, however, Academy City was literally the city of the future.

His name was Kamijou Touma, or, he at least used to be called Kamijou Touma.

A girl with long and straight violet hair armed with a gun smaller than her hand and a boy with an afro armed with his fist stood side by side of each other. They were standing tensely in front of a building that stored the biggest vacuum container in the city.

"Ready to go, Joumika?" the girl with violet hair said.

Joumika. A ridiculous new name for the one once called Kamijou.

(No matter how many time someone calls me by that, I always find the time to hate myself more,) he said to himself. He would have continued lamenting his choice for his pseudonym, but a much more important task was at hand.

It was nine days ago when Kamijou had discovered he was in the future. Five years, to be more precise. Nine days ago and already he finds himself going into a fight to save someone he did not no of.

There is a lot of detail missing, as you might have noted, so perhaps it is best we begin this story again nine days ago.

It started with an experiment.

* * *

Alright, yes, this is a very short upload, but this was only meant as a quick introduction. Really quick. A flash, really. You probably finished reading before you even blinked. Some quick things to note:

-OC doesn't take the whole story, so wipe that sweat off your forehead! She is present for around half the story, though.

-Afro. It's not permanent. In fact, I only put it in because the idea made me laugh. I'm chuckling right now.

-Favorite characters...might not appear. I focused on story and not so much on who appears and who doesn't, so you may be disappointed with some absent characters. If enough people request a character, however, I suppose I can squeeze that character in the story somehow. If people want Index, I'll put her on a plane and kick her out midair. That's not to say Index won't show up, but that's neither saying she will show up.


	2. A change in time

"How did I get here?"

It was Saturday afternoon, partially cloudy, and mild winds were pathing through when Kamijou Touma came to be in this world.

It was at the park, in front of the pond, where he found himself sitting on top of a wooden bench. When did he sit down? He didn't know. What more, he also felt like he had just woken up, but he couldn't exactly say that either. The waking up feeling he experienced was similar to when you doze off for a few minutes somewhere and then wake up, denying to yourself and others that you fell asleep. He must have, however, because never has he remembered conciously going to the park.

He wiped his eyes and looked at himself. He was wearing black jeans with a white long-sleeved fleece shirt with thin horizontal black stripes.

"This looks like the same thing I was wearing," he said. He checked because he had the odd suspicion of being in his pajamas. "Although, why would I be in them in the first place? It was still the afternoon and I had no intention of falling asleep."

He thought over it some more and came up with a posibility. Perhaps he had experienced misfortune again and in the process of running or fighting, he had been thrown unconcious.

"I've heard somewhere that blackouts can cause temporary memory lost," he said. Much like anyone participating in sports can tell you, you will not be able to completely remember the events that preceded to your knocking out. "It's a good thing then," he said, "only those memories are gone."

Some time ago, he had woken up in the hospital and was told by a doctor with a frog face that his memories had been completely destroyed. Today's little memory lost was nothing to significant to worry about, so he shrugged it off. He still remembered everything that had happened before.

"Guh! I should be heading home soon!"

Before he had 'woken' up on the park bench, he was on his way home with a bag of groceries and an egg. The egg was for Index.

"Ah, the grocery bag."

He looked around him to see if the food was anywhere to be seen. It was not.

He took a deep breath and sighed. "Just as expected it. It's gone. Such misfortune. Hm, what's this?"

He felt his hand on something on the bench. It was today's newspaper.

"The newspaper. I think I have time for a quick scan. Index won't mind."

He picked up the sheet of paper and settled them in his hands for a good handle. He began reading the articles, skimming through them for particularly interesting news.

"Mm?"

It's been five articles already, yet he was feeling something was off. Something not right. He couldn't place his finger on it, though. The feeling was like if someone left the grocery store and found their car one parking spot off from what they remembered.

"T-this can't be right. This has to be some kind of prank."

Prank or not, he continued going through the newspaper. The more he read, the more strange things had gotten. The car was no longer one parking spot off, it was completely stolen.

"This is all wrong! When the heck was this written? Hm? So that's it. I can't believe I almost fell for something like this."

The boy with spiky-hair let out a small laugh. He finally got off the bench and stood up. He crumpled the newspaper and slammed it into a garbage can as he walked by it.

"I've already wasted too much time. Better hurry before she starts worrying and leaves the apartment."

He left the park whistling, enjoying life as it was meant to be, also leaving behind the newspaper. The newspaper with the date "April 1" and the year five years ahead from what Kamijou remembered.

The only fabricated thing on that newspaper, in honor of April Fool's day, was the article about the sun being blocked by the city.

* * *

Yes, yes, short update is short, but it's either short updates that come occasionally or rare appearing updates that don't equate to a reasonable amount of words or content.

Apparently many other countries, including Japan, 'celebrate' April Fool's as well. I was tempted to just end the story with the Earth blowing up and saying April Fool's, but a story is a story. Nice of the date to work in my favor, anyway.

So, next time, Touma goes to the grocery and goes home! A thrilling chapter this will be, I bet!


	3. Stuff happens

Kamijou left the store with only a small plastic bag. He was irritated.

"A 15% increase in the last hour? They expect me to believe the prices changed that fast? If it wasn't for the fact Index is probably preparing to attack at the door, I would've gone somewhere else."

He walked a bit slouched over and slow, ready to call it a day. He'd make a quick meal for him and Index and throw himself to sleep.

"Hm, it feels strange here too."

The strange feeling he got when he read the papers had returned. Walking to his home, he felt like perhaps the city had changed a bit. He waved the feelings of displacement away, however, and carried on.

On the was home, though, he, noted something else was going on. As he approached the apartment, he began noticing people around him. As he noticed people around him, he noticed some where giving him odd looks. Not only that, some stopped in the middle of an action, such as walking or packing or talking, and looked at him with surprise.

(What's with this place today? Is there actually an event going on that I'm not aware of?)

Not everyone stopped to look, but the ones that did bugged him. It was ominous, this day.

"Well, at least I've finally made it home. Maybe if I'm lucky, Index will be a little off from herself too," he said to himself. He then let out a small laugh. "Heh. If I'm lucky...then again, at this point, I think I might like it if Index bit me. I could use the routine right now in this nebulous day. Eh? Now what?"

Again, another 'off' thing in the city had appeared. In front of his apartment building, there was a plaque inserted into the ground.

He walked over to the plaque with reluctance. The day was already out of place. He didn't want more irregularities, but his curiosity got the better of him.

"Now there's a plaque here? If this doesn't clear up any of the things happening today, I'm going to-what?"

He looked at the plaque. He read the plaque again to make sure he wasn't mistaken. He looked at it some more. His eyes twitched.

"What the hell is going on!?"

The plaque in the ground and in front of his apartment building was a memorial plaque. A memorial to a former residence of the apartments who was shot and killed in front of the building. A victim named Kamijou Touma.

"Damn it! This better be a late joke or something! Wait, a joke? Ha, yes, that's what this is...a joke."

He took a deep breath and calmed down, or at least feigned relaxation. He was still uneasy. He was starting to develop an acute case of paranoia. His eyes bounced left and right, searching for anything else that might be part of this 'joke'.

(This has to be a set up. What if I'm an unknowing guest on a show where they mess with people? Perhaps Biri-biri is trying to get back at me for who-knows-what. Or maybe...Tsuchimikado?)

He doubted Tsuchimikado was the type to play elaborate pranks on people, but everything happening to him has happened near the building.

Yet again, he shook the silly ideas away.

"I'm getting too distracted! I just have to go home. Prank or not, the finale must be waiting there so I might as well go in and get it over with."

He climbed the stairs and reached the floor with his and Tsuchimikado's room. He goes over to his room apartment and puts down his bag to get out his keys. He pushed them into the lock and turned. The lock wouldn't move.

"What?" He looked over to next door. "So it is you, you bastard. You're probably the only one I can think of who would change the lock on my door for some silly scheme, well I'm done with it!"

He went over to the door and started banging.

"Open up, Tsuchimikado! I have to show you my own counter-trick called 'A Fist Full of Teeth'!"

A click sounded and the doorknob shook. He stopped beating the door and readied himself for whatever may lay behind that door.

(What am I thinking? If this is his doing, there's no way he's going to simply leave himself open. He...who is this person?)

Opening the door, a boy with blonde hair appeared, but it was not Tsuchimikado. It was just someone who bitterly answered the disruptive visitor.

They stared at each other, wondering the same thing; Who is this person?

Kamijou opened his mouth and said, "Excuse me, but can you-"

Suddenly, the boy lightly jabbed him with his fingers, quickly bring his arm back like he had just touched a hot frying pan. His eyes bulged, sweat fell, his body trembled, and his lips quivered for sometime before he shouted, "Oh shit! It's the real deal! A ghost!"

"A what now?"

He didn't know what to say. Someone had just called him a ghost. What can you do to respond, besides 'boo'? He didn't know and he wouldn't be able to think about it anymore. Doors on the floor opened and annoyed residents came out.

"What the hell's going on?"

"Is someone in trouble?"

"Quiet down out here!"

"What's with all the noise?"

"..."

It turned silent. All eyes were on him now.

(What's going on here? Nothing is making sense to me!)

The sound of the door being shut occurred. It was from the door he banged on. Right when the door shut, everyone jumped in fear and screamed, "A ghost!"

"What's wrong with you all? I'm not a ghost! I live here! I live right in this apartment here!" He pointed directly to his door with vigor, shaking his hand to emphasize the fact it was his room.

Everyone copied the blonde boy and panicked some more.

"It really is the ghost of that kid!"

"Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh fuck!"

"We've got to kill it! Kill it with fire!"

"Yeah!"

"Oh no," Kamijou said in a breath.

Running down the stairs and now dashing through the streets, Kamijou was now making a straight run away from a group of exorcist.

"Just my damn luck! I had to meet the one group in the city of science that believes in the walking spirit!"

This proclamation of misfortune was incorrect, however. It seemed others also believed in ghost because the mob chasing him was gaining participation along the way.

"What the hell's going on!?" he screamed once more, as he jumped over a trash bin and fell.

* * *

Oh, wow. I'm actually doing some small, but consistent amount of writing right now. That'll end somewhere this month, I bet. I still need a debt that needs to be considered.

So next time, Tomau starts considering the possibility of these irregularities to not be part of a prank and then sleeps! An exciting chapter to come, I bet!


	4. What a great night

It was an hour past sunset now and the night was young. However, a haggard boy was not able to enjoy the evening.

Kamijou escaped from the original mob a few hours ago, but he was still in hiding. Why? Everywhere he went, a person here and there would give acknowledge hiss existence by staring or doing a double take. At first, the number of people who reacted were low. A lot of people paid no mind. As time passed, though, the numbers increased. Half an hour ago, another mob chased after him with curious curiosity. He had just now escaped from them too a few minutes ago.

Right now, he was in an alley not known by many. He was leaning on a wall next to some empty boxes and was checking his phone to confirm something he's had on his mind.

He frowned. "I knew it. These urban legends and rumors on this site are all about me. 'A wandering spirit has appeared, haunting his home before death. Observant eyewitnesses believe they saw the spike-haired murder victim a ruckus was made about a few years back.' These stories are still as silly as I remember them being. Glad I'm not a regular visitor of the site. Hm? The date on the corner of the page...it's today, but the year is off by five years. I wonder-ahhhhh!?"

It suddenly hit him.

"No way!" He closed the small web browser on his phone. Then he saw it again. Today's date on the screen of his phone. "I-i-it's t-the same year the n-newspaper had!"

Some time passed before he calmed down and cooled. He was still skeptical of what might be going on, but he deemed it necessary to think about the situation going on. Today's events have proven that this problem has gone beyond the realm of a prank.

(If this is five years in the future,) Kamijou internally said, (then things have changed. One of those changes is my death. Therefore, I am dead somewhere between what I last remembered as the present and now, the future.)

He felt like he was going to scream. His silly-sounding thinking felt like he was trying to theorize why what religion Santa Clause uses to have magic. Nevertheless, he continued.

(This 'might' be the future, but it's still too early to say so. All I've seen are references to an apparent murder I went through and three time stamps. I can at least say, with certainty, that I am in a different setting. I don't know if it's time, necessarily, but it's different from the afternoon before the park. The park...I'm still wearing the same thing from before. Maybe something has happened to the world like with Angel Fall?)

He would've considered the possibility of he himself being the altered, but there was one thing against that notation.

(I can't be the one that's changed,) he said in his head. He pulled his right hand in front of him so he could look at it. (because of this.)

The Imagine Breaker; a power that resides in his hand. With it, he can dispel any kind of supernatural power, field, or effect. For this reason, it is impossible for him to have been affected by something. As long as he has his hand intact, it can't happen.

He looked up to the moon and a thought occurred to him.

(I have to sleep.)

* * *

He had returned back to the apartment complex. His intention was that he would quietly go back into his apartment, without disturbing his neighbors, and go to sleep. Instead, he was covered in leaves and shivering in the cold and in the bushes.

He peaked outside of a bush across the street and looked at the apartment building, infested with paranoid residents of the dark.

"What in the world are they doing?" he moaned.

In each floor, several people were out patrolling the building. Some where walking back and forth in a very strict military style. Others were leaning over the ledge, holding binoculars in front of their eyes. Two guys were even sitting on the roof with spotlights scrutinizing the street. One light ray was moving towards the bush.

"Shit!"

He retreated into the bush and stayed still.

(These guys are ridiculous! Even if I was a ghost, what are they planning to do?)

"Have you seen the ghost?" a person behind a spotlight said.

"No," one with binoculars said, "but be prepared. The minute we see one, you shine the light on him and make him disappear."

"And if that doesn't work,"said one of the walking 'guardsmen', "we can use our secret weapon." He looked into his apartment through a window and smiled at his vacuum cleaner.

(These guys are really just a bunch 7-year-olds!)

* * *

Gullible believers of the walking dead or not, they prevented him from sneaking back into his apartment. In the end, he had to go back to the alley less known where he did his thinking to go to sleep. Fortunately, this is Academy City. Through advance cleaning technology and a rigorous program, the city is always immaculate. It's also extremely safe, provided no battles between espers (or magicians) take place. One could even say that even a little girl could sleep in the park and wake up fine and unharmed.

Kamijou grabbed everything he needed to make a bed. He found ten meters of bubble wrap and folded them three times to make a small air mattress, a perfectly good rug with a hideous design to use as a blanket, and a plastic bag filled with shredded documents to be his pillow.

Originally, he wanted to avoid coming here to sleep and wanted to search for a friend who would let him stay for the night and possibly explain what's happening, but an earlier incident made him reconsider.

(Tsuchimikado wasn't in his apartment and someone else answered. If this is a 'five year in the future' setting, then that must mean people probably moved around a bit.)

The city was a very busy and progressive place. Students and teachers living here almost never lived in one place for many years. Even if no one wanted to move, the city would make them evict the building for a complete renovation of building. Kamijou didn't know, but Academy City had actually given each building in the entire city more rooms with making buildings taller or wider by decreasing the volume of walls and floors with organized wiring and plumbing and a making the buildings be made of a thin, dense material that made rooms soundproof and kept buildings stable in earthquakes.

Sleeping in an alley in the cold wasn't the easiest thing a person could do, but he managed to do it after twenty minutes. His body relaxed and he went to sleep.

Three hours later, something happened.

Living with Index, a two or three years younger than him, he had to forfeit his bed to her. However, when Index is left alone sleeping, she sleeps walks and goes lay down by the side of someone nearby. Being the only other person in the apartment, he had to lock himself in the bathroom every night to prevent any accidental incidents from happening. Even with the door locked, though, he still kept alert. After some time, he developed a small talent of waking up from strange noises due to some healthy paranoia.

Tonight was a good night for that talent to wake him.

He was in the middle of having a nice dream where a day passed by with no misfortune when his ears perked and woke him up. He was still in a state where he was not aware he had woken up, but the frown on his face indicated otherwise. It wasn't until he began hearing a noise coming closer and closer before his body began instinctively getting up.

"Whhheet, thzzt?" he muttered, trying to say, "What's that?"

His eyes were still closed, but it was what he was hearing that he was paying attention to. The noise wasn't loud, but it was very distinct. It was consistent, never ending to repeat. It also sounded like wheels rolling down a slope. Wheels that stopped and were now emitting a high pitched ringing noise.

"Hrm!"

He grunted and his eyes cracked open. His bloodshot eyes saw that near the ground to him was a flat black box, no bigger than a textbook.

It didn't take a wizard to take a guess of what a small machine making a small ringing noise would do next.

Kamijou Touma sprang up and launched himself away.

The black machine finished its ring with a bang and it exploded, engulfing a part of the alley into a tower of red and black smoke and fire.

"What was that for!?" he shouted.

Amazingly fast, the flames and ashes swirling around dissipated and the alley became relatively clear again. This allowed Kamijou to see the over fifty black boxes rolling towards him.

* * *

Sorry for that 'bang' pun. I couldn't resist. In any case, it seems we're finally going to see some action. Not very much, but it's going to happen. We're also closer to where the intro started. I'd say 8-12 thousands words should do it.

So, next time, Mauto will face a small army of exploding black boxes that want him dead! A somewhat interesting chapter to come!


	5. All black boxes look the same

He started running, running as fast as he could. It wasn't too fast though. He had just woken up a few seconds ago so he was still very much disoriented and unbalanced.

"Shit! Can I never have a goon night's sleep?"

Just as he said this, a black box rolled by his feet and began beeping. Hearing the noise, Kamijou felt like an airhorn had sounded and his brain ordered him to move it. He began running faster, hoping to outrun the explosive. When he reach the end of the alley, the black box exploded.

He was not in lethal range, but the explosion did push him down to the ground. Down there, he took a quick glance behind him to see what was going on. Dozens of black boxes were lined up like tanks. They were 4 meters behind of the exploding box. They get close to it because if the explosion did not kill the target, they would all explode in a chain reaction.

Knowing full well that this was not the end of the attack, he got up and sprinted once again. Another black box followed while the others followed it at lower speed.

As he was running, Kamijou began planning how to escape these things.

(These things can move as fast as bicycles. At this rate, I'll get tired before even half of them explode. In that case, I have to get out of their range.)

While he was at the ground, he had noticed that the boxes had wheels under them.

(If that's how they are, I just need to get up to a higher level!)

How would he achieve this, though? Ignoring the new explosion that happened, he looked around him for the answer to this. There were many tall buildings around, but he immediately excluded the idea of going inside to use their stairs. Besides the fact that he would be arrested for multiple crimes, there might be people and he certainly didn't want to risk the boxes to explode by anyone.

"What the-! There's two now?"

Two boxes were on his tail. This didn't make much of a difference except increase the reach of the explosion.

He didn't feel like he'd be able to run faster. He had to find a temporry solution and fast. That's when he saw a nearby baseball field. The fence around it was his ticket to survive a few more seconds.

He ran toward the fence and jumped over it. He continued running again after that.

The two black boxes were about to explode, but they stopped at the fence blocking them. Seeing the units unable to proceed, the other machines stopped. A boom sounded and the fence fell down. Again, two explosives led the group and proceeded to chase the target.

He was running to the fence on the other side of the baseball field to evade the pursuing boxes once more, but then he saw something on the side of his vision. It was a spectator stand, twelve meters high. He would have changed direction to climb it and finally avoid the black boxes, but he knew things wouldn't be so simple. For one thing, these things explode. They would blow the thing down in three or four explosions. Secondly, if they didn't explode, then he'd be trap. There's also the possibility he might be wrong to assume the boxes were only limited to the ground. However, Kamijou's quick mind began formulating a plan. With all of the above scenarios, he wouldn't be safe for long. For long. In each of the above scenarios, time would be given, he realized. The boxes took a few seconds to explode, would wait, or do something to allow themselves to climb the steps. In each possibility, extra time was given. Not only that, the boxes traveled together with the exception of the leading box to avoid a reaction. In that case-

(That's my chance to strike! I have to make the group go out together.)

There was a small problem with that. In order to forcefully detonate them, he'd have to make thhem crack. Many times, explosive weapons are contained in tough shells so the chances of an accidental detonation was lowered. If he wanted to make a reaction happen, he'd have to apply great force.

He looks over to the other side and found an equipment shed. He made a dash for it and entered.

He only had a few seconds to spare before the wall with the door would explode from two of those boxes. He'd have to quickly get something and leave through the second door on the other side.

Baseball bats, balls, helmets were hard, but he doubted that throwing them at the stalking bombs would do the trick. That's when he saw what he needed on a shelf, cans of air freshener. This was what he needed. To make the boxes explode, he would need great force, so why not make an explosion to cause explosions?

He went over to the cans and grabbed three. He left the shed before the boxes exploded and removed an entire side of the shed.

Reaching for the stand, he dropped two cans on the ground, a few meters away from the stands. He ignored it and ran up to the highest stair.

At the bottom, the two pursing boxes could no longer move on. Preparing to explode, the group of boxes stopped to save themselves from the two. A ringing noise started.

Hearing his cue, Kamijou pulled out the air freshener and threw it between the group and two boxes. The can landed on it's head and some of its content sprayed. Immediately after that, the two boxes exploded.

The explosion reacted with the air freshener because of the butane molecules, causing the can to explode, reaching the other cans, and finally reaching the group of boxes. A tremendous explosion followed. Within two seconds, half a hundred explosions erupted in series. The resulting smoke, heat, and flames was kept in a small area away from Kamijou before rapidly expanding. It was also very loud, scaring him so much that he fell back and hit the ground.

The smoke and heat soon dissipated into the air and the baseball field was back to being quiet, returning to its original state, ignoring the brand new giant pit near the stands.

Kamijou , laying on the floor, let out a breath of relief. It was over. A minute had passed and not a single more explosion had boomed. He would get up and return to the alley, but he was comfortable there. The grass was cool and soft and because Academy City had mastered how to use light with the least amount of energy used, it made it one of the few metropolitan cities to actually have the stars be seen at night. He was also very tired. He didn't sleep much before he had to avoid an army of explosives.

He would have slept there were he not troubled about what just happened. Those explosive boxes didn't just come out of a warehouse and tried to kill him because of his misfortune (probably). Most likely, someone was out to get him, but why? He hadn't met any strange girls lately nor had an opponent telling him they would kill or use him. Just what was going on?

"Eh, it's probably not worth it to think about it now," he said to himself. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. "I just wish I knew why someone would try to kill me right now."

"Isn't it obvious? To kill you, of course," a voice said.

"What?" He opened his eyes and saw a girl leaning over him. A girl with blue eyes and long violet hair going straight down.

* * *

I know the air freshener didn't really have to come out for it to exploded, but the scene would have been really anticlimactic or something if all it did was land on the ground, period. Remember to always read the warning labels, kids!

So right now, we're 8 days from the first chapter. I just want to clarify that the story will be far from being done when we reach that time. Maybe we'll get there by Autumn.

Anyway, thanks for reading, people! If you like this, a review is very much appreciated. They keep me motivated.


	6. Go to sleep already

"Who are you?" he asked to the 17-year-old girl leaning over him. She had violet hair, blue eyes, and a black jacket hanging off her shoulders.

The violet hair girl pouted and knitted her eyebrows. "I don't think that's necessary information right now."

He wasn't sure what she meant by that, but he felt no hostile feelings behind her words. She looked more like the type of person who only gets aggressive when the wrong thing is said. Skipping the introduction then, he asked her, "Who's trying to get rid of me?"

She merely shrugged. "Beats me."

(What a brilliantly knowledgeable and extroverted girl I have on me,) he sarcastically thought to himself. "Are you going to tell me anything at all then, or should I just try to back to sleep and deal with you in the morning?"

"Assassins were hired to kill you."

Hit with such a blunt object, Kamijou eyes grew and jaw dropped. "What!? How would you know such a thing?"

"The boxes," she said, "are their first attack. The small, cheap, and can kill someone caught in one or two explosions."

"Who hires these assassins? Also, what do you mean 'first attack'? Are there more of these boxes?"

To the best of her ability, she answered all the questions at once. "A variety of people hire these assassins, but it's usually either the higher-ups or extremely vengeful people calling the hits. I say first attack because there will be more. The boxes are only used the first time. The second time, you'll be faced with flies. The third attack will have round bombs. The penultimate attack will be direct contact with an assassin. The final attack...the final is the death match against the head assassin."

To him, these multiple attacks felt unnecessary. Why not just kill your enemies the first time?

As if she knew what he was thinking, she said, "The head assassin started the group, but he dislikes having too many bodies around. He doesn't mind killing a person here and there, but he doesn't love it. He does enjoy it a bit though."

He heard it, but wasn't satisfied. He'd press her for a more detailed answer, but he could see in her blue eyes that he shouldn't. He instead thought it would be best if he bluntly asked her, "So, who are you? Are you an assassin to tell me that I'm unfortunate enough to skip two attacks?"

She shook her head. "No, you're absolutely wrong. I'm actually on the other side of the coin. Like you, I'm also on their list." She stood upright and pulled out her hand. "Get off that ground and follow me. Let me show you where the dead live."

Reluctantly, he grabbed her hand and followed her. During that time, she explained a little more about the current situation he is in.

"That unmannerly question of yours from earlier is actually possible, you know? Depending how threatening the target is or how much the assassin group is paid, they will use their more threatening attacks first. I am going to assume you're a low level since I didn't observe any power from you. As such, you're a low threat."

He nodded. "Is there anyway to escape their list?"

"Only one," she said, "if the client dies, then you're free, but that's a rare thing to happen. The closest thing to an escape, then, is to die. Do you know how long I've been on their list? 2 years."

"They must be doing a poor job then, he remarked.

"No. Remember me telling you that the head assassin doesn't like to kill 'too' much? The attacks are more of a warning to him. If you survive, you are given the chance to live, in one condition. If you are to change your identity, image, and activities, you are allowed to live for as long as they decide."

"What!? That's crazy! That's basically throwing away your life!"

"Exactly."

The quick response threw him off a bit. What kind of person was this head assassin?

"According to the head assassin, it is his job to get rid of someone's life so the client is no longer concerned. Unless it is a special request, he will try to terrify his target into throwing their original life away. They must throw away who they are and avoid all hints of their past life, like hobbies, schools, personality, friends, and family."

To have things like that be removed from you, Kamijou could not imagine how that would feel. Would you get a dose of cognitive dissonance with every action you make? Would you eventually lose yourself and fall for the role? He didn't know, but he had a feeling he would have to.

"You're going to tell me that this is what I have to do if I don't want to be attacked and killed, right?"

She nodded. "You don't have to start now, but we should start you transition tomorrow. The longer you're yourself, the more of a threat you are."

Kamijou agreed. Having only slept for a few hours, he'd prefer the change tomorrow.

"We're here." She pointed at a door attached to the floor. She went on one knee and opened it to reveal stairs. "Come on in. Close the door behind you."

They traveled 35 meters below before they stopped in front of another door. The violet haired girl opened it.

"What the hell is this?"

Kamijou looked at the area in front of him. A wooden box modeled after the elevator was in front of him, hanging in the air in a giant room with broken glass covering the floor and walls. In the wall to the left was another door.

Kamijou looked everywhere else in the room and besides the light bulbs on the ceiling, along with the hook attached to the rope of the wooden box, there was nothing else.

The violet girl hops into the elevator. "Get in."

"Are you kidding me? If we get on, we're just going to smash into broken glass!"

The girl smiled. "Oh? Well, look at the bright side; At least no one will be able to use your skin for a canoe."

"A prefer being stabbed with a fork than this violent end."

The girl's smile settled down. "Relax, you're overreacting. You really think I'm just going to slam the two of us into a nasty mess? This is just a light security system. Not too protective, but it does give us a sense of security and privacy."

"Us?" Kamijou repeated.

"Me, my little brother, and a friend live with me. I'll introduce you to them tomorrow. Now get in."

Extremely reluctant, he stepped into the box. Looking down, he gulped and hoped he wouldn't be sleeping on glass tonight.

The girl kicked a small hook connecting the box to the corner of the door and the box began fall.

Like any object connected to a line on an angle, the box followed a circular path. Turned into a pendulum, the box's movement should have naturally gone across the room and hit the wall of glass shards. However, this was not the case. At the moment when it reached its lowest height, the box made a sharp 90 degree angle turn to the left and continued its circular path. At the same time, the open side of the box turned as well.

Th box reached the door and the girl quickly hooked the box to the door's corner and opened the door. "You can stop hugging my legs now."

"Hm?" Kamijou opened his eyes and realized what he was doing. "Ah, sorry!" He quickly went through the door to escape the box. He looked back and saw the door was now on the right wall. "Wow, we really made it to this side. How did you do it?"

She calmly joined him and closed the door behind. "It's nothing special. I am a Level 3 esper who can change the direction of certain vectors. I simply changed the direction of the box to the left at the point of highest kinetic energy. Imagine if you shot a bullet at me. All I would have to do is change the bullet's horizontal vector a few degrees away to save myself."

Kamijou began to understand. In essence, she can change the direction an object is moving towards. If he rolled a ball on the ground, she would be able to make it turn and roll back to him.

Thinking about her power, he was reminded of another person. "Is this power of yours the same as Accelerator?"

Her face budged a little. "No, but it's awfully similar. His is a little better, though. If I somehow turned into a Level 5, he'd still be able to beat me. That's the Number 2 for you."

Kamijou nodded and continued walking. He walked and he walked until something clicked in his head. "Wait, did you refer to Accelerator as the Number 2?"

She looked at him and saw he was being serious. Her head tilted from puzzlement to his question. "Yes, I did. Why do you ask? He's been the Number 2 for over 18 months now. Didn't you know?"

* * *

So that's why my bowel movements have been accelerating!

...

Yes, well, that lame joke is much better than the one about character assassination. Next time on Dragon Ball Z, spiky hair guy goes Not-Super Saiyan into Not-spiky hair guy, changes his name, arm, maybe a puppy, and two egg yolks to complete the recipe. (I think I'm going off the far end.)


	7. Magic Tomato

It was early afternoon when he woke up. He didn't immediately get up from his cheap bed because he wanted to think for a moment of what was going on...also because he hasn't slept in a bed like this in ages, but mostly so he could think.

Yesterday, a strange girl brought him to her hideout of sorts. She explained a lot about some of the assassin practices here, but she also mentioned something off to him. She claimed Accelerator, the 'strongest' Level 5 in Academy City, is actually the Number 2. Not only that, she claimed it has been like that for a year and a half.

"That's settles it," he muttered. "I didn't want to believe it, but this has gone far beyond an ambitious practical joke. Either Academy City believes it's the future or this really is the future."

Having said that to himself, he felt much more relieved and relax. As much as he still found it silly, accepting the possibility of the future being a part of Academy City's current state brought some sense to him.

A light turned on and someone entered. "You're finally up."

He picked up his head and looked ahead to see the girl with violet hair. Seeing her in proper lighting now, she looked about 16 years old.

"Would you like some lunch? We have food. We don't know what exactly, but none of us have gotten food poisoning yet."

He shook his head. He was actually really hungry, but he wanted an introduction out of the way. "Who are you?"

"Well, aren't we in a hurry to get acquainted? Fine. I suppose it gets uncomfortable to not know the name of the person who saved you."

(In what way was I saved?)

"I go by the name of Kyoumi Shidou. Call me by either name, neither are my actual name. What about your pseudonym?"

His mouth tilted in order to express his confusion until he remembered the other part of their talk last night. Throwing away your life as a metaphor of your death. Unless a client died or called off the hit, getting rid of everything about you to form your identity is the only thing that would make the assassins look the other way. No one knew why, but that's how things worked.

Returning his thoughts to his pseudonym, he wondered if he should even bother thinking of a false name. If this was the future, no one should be able to know who he was. Then again, considering there is a plaque about his murder at the apartments where everyone identified him as a ghost and the fact he was being targeted by assassins, perhaps he did need a new fake name.

He thought about it for a moment and said his new name in a voice similar to how a foreigner would pronounce it. "Joumika Matou."

Suddenly, Kyoumi fell to the floor and began shaking.

Following his hero's instincts, he immediately got off the bed and came to her aid.

"Kyoumi-san! What's happening to you!? Whatever it is, my right hand can destroy it!"

He reached for her head and moved it so he could see it.

"Huh?"

Kyoumi wasn't in any pain at all. She was laughing.

"Bwahaha! Joumika! Ahahahahaha!"

"Shut up!"

As angry as he was with this new girl he had met, he was even more angry with himself.

"Jo-u-mi-ka-sa-n! Ahahahahahaha! That's what people will be calling you now!"

"Hey, stop saying Joumika! The more you say it, the more powerful and regretful I become!"

For the next three minutes, he tried to break an illusion but since naming himself Joumika was no illusion, he gave up.

After she calmed down, she went to a small kitchen nearby. He followed her there. She was in the middle of drinking a glass of water when she saw him again and she had to run to the sink to laugh another day.

She went an refilled her cup and sat down. She calmly sipped her water.

"Hm, yes, well, take a seat, Joumika-san."

Although she said it in a mannerly way, it was fairly obvious she was a smile behind the cup of water and her hands.

He bitterly sat down and grunted. "Forget calling me Joumika. Matou will be just fine."

She disagreed. "Tomatou-san is tempting, but I'll stick with good ol' Joumika-san."

Hearing "Tomatou-san", Kamijou made a self-promise to never name his child. It was also then, he realized, how his real name could also be turned into a tomato. Under his breath, he muttered, "Rotten luck."

"Rotten tomatou-san," Kyoumi said before dodging a chair Kamijou threw.

After they settled down once again, Kyoumi offered Kamijou the food she mentioned. She brought it out on a plate and handed it to him. His lunch was half of a smooth and purple sphere, a red sauce with yellow lumps, and a tomato.

Before he could make another outburst, Kyoumi placed a finger in front of his lips and said, "Last time, I promise."

He ate his lunch, minus the tomato, but he was still hungry. He didn't want to take a chance with another tomato though, so he made no requests for seconds.

"Where are the other two," he asked. "Yesterday, you said there were two others living in this cramped living space."

"Oh, there's plenty of time for that, Joumika-san. They're gone now, but I can introduce you to them when we see them. In any case, since you're done with your lunch, we should really get going."

"Going? Where are we going?"

"The barbershop."

* * *

"Is my existence some kind of joke to you!"

The meek female barber was hiding behind her mirror as she watched Kamijou releasing his rage on Kyoumi.

"As if my name wasn't bad enough, I have to have this hair as a part of my identity as well?"

He looked back at the mirror and his eyes shrunk. His large and spiky hair was cut down to only a few millimeters. He looked like he was wearing a black helmet.

Kyoumi was apathetic. "Calm down. This is all your doing. The barber and I offered a dozen hair styles and you didn't take a liking to any of them."

He would have shouted a rebuttal, but seeing his barber cower behind a mirror made him reconsider.

* * *

After she paid, she dragged Kamijou behind her to shop for clothes.

"Why do I need to buy cloth? Can't I just wear the ones I have right now?"

Kyoumi arbitrarily picked out three shirts and threw them at Kamijou. "No. They attacked in you in them. For all we know, they might consider your current look as a part of your past identity. How do you like these baseball shirts?"

* * *

When they left the department store, Kamijou was dressed in a red striped shirt with black pants.

"Well, you've humiliated me enough. What do we do now?"

Immediately after he asked her, his stomach's hunger pangs returned and it roared.

"I suppose you'd like a second lunch?"

Instant shame cast dawn over him. Even if he's only eaten once since waking up in the park, he didn't want to be known as someone with an insatiable appetite.

(But it hurts so much! Now I know what Index must have-)

His mind went blank from there.

Index. Where did she go? How is she? Is she happy? Is she in Academy City or back in England? A rush of questions came to mind, thinking about her.

"Hm?" Kyoumi had noticed Kamijou staring blankly ahead, looking into the distant thoughts of his mind. "Are you alright there?"

Although there were others he was curious as to what has happened to them in this time, Index was a major concern to him.

"Hm? Oh, sorry. It's nothing." He said it without changing expression, like he was a wandering soul. "I just reminded myself of someone-a friend-I know."

He wanted to find her. He wanted to go after her. If this was indeed the future in which he died, he wanted to go to her and tell her everything is alright. He wanted to, but-

"A friend you knew," she said in the way a teacher corrected her student. "That's in the past now. This was what today has been all about. You can't hang on to those things from your past life now that your life is in danger of being erased by assassins."

(That's right. I'm being hunted now for some reason. I can't go find her right now...but I will find her. Right now, though...)

Kyoumi tilted her head. "Joumika-san?"

He reacted this time and looked over at her. He smiled and said, "Sorry for acting like that. Thanks for reminding me what I need to do!"

* * *

So there's that update. Probably the last one for a month.

I made a quick check-up on this arc and I made it so this chapter would be the mid-point, so hoorah! In celebration of this, I wanted to put in a not-so-subtle cameo by someone, but I changed it to a later chapter. That character will be a central character for the next arc which will be way more interesting than this one, so stay tune people!

…

I really wanted his fake name to be Majikou Tomato...


End file.
